Canadian remote sensing startup Wyvern is expanding south of the border.
The Alberta-based company, which collects what it says is the highest-resolution hyperspectral imagery on the market, has raised $6 million to, among other things, expand into U.S. commercial and defense markets.
The new funding was led by Squadra Ventures, a firm squarely focused on investing in companies in the cyber and national security spaces. Wyvern has already established an American subsidiary, and co-founder Kurtis Broda told TechCrunch that working with Squadra was a “natural fit” for growing in that market.
“As a Canadian company, we need to enter the U.S. market. We need to access key defense programs and bid on those sorts of programs of record,” he said. (Co-founder Kristen Cote added, however, that “We are proud to be Canadian.”)
American defense agencies, chiefly the National Reconnaissance Office, have awarded contracts to a slew of hyperspectral imaging companies. While these study contracts are a preliminary step, they will likely lead to bigger, more lucrative opportunities as the spy agency looks to further expand its remote sensing capabilities.
Wyvern, which was founded around six years ago and graduated from Y Combinator’s Winter 2022 cohort, has three satellites in its Dragonette constellation, built by satellite manufacturer AAC Clyde Space. Those collect hyperspectral imagery across 23 or 32 bands (depending on the satellite), in 5.3-meter resolution. Next year, the company will launch two more satellites as part of a previously announced partnership with Loft Orbital. It doesn’t sound like that much of an increase, but Cote said the downlink capacity increase from the small buses built by Clyde to the much larger Loft buses will be substantial.
“We just had our start of commercial operations in April,” she explained. “We’re resource constrained at the moment. People want all this data, but we don’t have enough capacity on orbit right now. With Loft it’s about increasing the downlink capacity and the overall global coverage.”
Hyperspectral imaging uses a special camera to capture radiation outside the visible light spectrum. Using a form of analysis called spectrometry, the system can identify different materials and objects by what wavelengths they reflect.
Companies can use hyperspectral data for everything from identifying tree species to catching methane leaks. Wyvern’s constellation captures light in the near-infrared spectrum, and much of the company’s commercial focus has been on agriculture and forestry monitoring. One goal with the funding is to develop a next-gen system that can capture even more wavelengths, Cote said.
The round also includes participation from previous investors Uncork Capital and Y Combinator, and new investment from the University of Alberta Innovation Fund, Accelerate Fund III, and Brent Perrot.
